A Mystical Land
by Banks Inc
Summary: Alex plays a prank on Justin that ends up going horribly wrong. They both end up in a strange place in the jungle without their wizard powers. How will they get home? Will the two unlikely siblings finally learn to get along?
1. Magic Goes Awry

**A Mystical Place  
Summary - **Alex plays a prank on Justin and it ends up going horribly wrong. They both end up in a strange place in the jungle without their wizard powers. How can they escape? Will they co-operate for once in their lives? This is just a fun little short story that I thought you guys might like.  
**Welcome to the Mystical Place called Alto Pajetan. I might also want to add that this was a story we wrote in school a few years ago and I switched up my characters and improved the plot. I will be changing POV's throughout the story, but only once per chapter. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1 – Magic Goes Awry  
Alex's POV**

"Quick, go distract Justin while I finish." I whispered urgently to my little brother. Max scurried away.

"Hey, Justin, can you count the eyes on this potato for me?" I heard Max yell out randomly to Justin. I put the finishing touches on my masterful prank. (Is masterful even a word?)

Max came running up the stairs and together, we waited eagerly until Justin took his shower.

"ALEX!!!" Justin came running out of the bathroom with his bath towel around his waist. I knew my prank would work. They always do. "WHY IS MY SHOWER STICKY?!?!" He screamed at me.

"Well, that might have something to do with Max eating his candies and showering at the same time." I smiled evilly.

"Don't try to blame this one on Max, Alex. I know it was you up to no good. I was the one that was covering your shift at the sub shop while you left to go pull this prank." Oh, dang, I guess I wasn't so sneaky after all.

Justin stormed off to his bedroom. Max and I had a good laugh about the sticky mess that was Justin's hair. Putting hard candies in the shower head was an awesome idea. I came up with it, obviously. I knew I had to come up with another great idea to annoy Justin before long, or else he might think I was losing my evil sister touch.

I wandered into Justin's room for some planning inspiration. By now he was dressed and sitting at his desk doing homework. (The nerd.) I heard him mumbling something quietly, so I got closer. I came right up behind him, close enough to flick the back of his head.

"Pranks are what Alex does, protect me now or she'll..." I didn't let him finish his spell; instead I launched myself at him and pulled his wand from his tight grip. At that moment, I heard his unfinished spell take effect.

"Alex! I didn't finish the spell! Now the outcome could be anything? I might have disrupted the space time continuum!" He stressed to me in his typical smart, brotherly way.

"Alright, fine! I'll just leave then, and hope I disrupt your spacey, whatever-thingy." I smirked and turned to leave his bedroom. Only, there was nothing-just blank space outside his door. It was a door that led to nothing.

"See? My magic has gone amiss! What should we do? I know, let's go ask dad!" Justin panicked. Then he ran out of his room.

"NO! Justin!" I yelled as he ran into the outer blankness stuff. Without even thinking about it, I ran after him.

"Where are we?" Justin asked me. We were standing in a flat greenish area, surrounded by jungle leaves and stuff like that. He pulled out his pocket compass (I never understood why he carried one of those around) and started walking what he said was north.

"Justin, be careful!" I said worriedly as he disappeared into the wall of green. I ran after him and landed, (of course!) in a thick puddle of mud.

"Come on, Alex, we have to keep going. Plus, I hear someone coming!" Justin told me.

"That's kind of hard, Justin. I'm stuck." He pulled me up out of the mud, but also right out of my brand new stiletto boots. I grabbed a stick and poked my shoes trying to pry them loose.

"Come on, someone's coming!" Justin repeated.

"Hang on one second. I just have to get my boots loose first." I told him with my back turned.

"Paji?" A weird voice behind me said. I whirled around and stared into the heavily-painted face of a man. He was big and burly, and dark of face.

"PAJI!" The man called out. A large group of similar looking people came out of the bushes.

"But, where's Justin?" I asked the strange guy. He just laughed before carrying me away with his big friends.

**So, what do you guys think, should I turn this into an ongoing story? If you guys want this story, I promise I will update it much faster than my first story written. Thanks!**


	2. Thick Vines and Strange People

**Alex's POV**

"Help! Help! Oh, forget it..." I gave a big sigh as the native people carried me farther into the jungle on some weird stretcher-like thing. These people were really starting to annoy me. Couldn't they at least speak English?

As they continue walking, the uncomfortable bed thingy faded with my sight. I fell into a deep slumber.

"_Alex, where are you? I've been wandering around in these god-for-saken bushes for hours!" Justin complained. His face whirled around me eerily. "Listen to me, Alex! I did a spell to get into your dreams so I could figure out where you went. Please talk to me!"_

_But this was a dream, and in most dreams, people can't or just don't talk._

"_Can you at least tell me which direction you went? No? Fine then, goodbye for now." Justin's face slowly faded from my dreams._

_Someone started shaking my shoulder and talking nonsense to me._

"Was go non?" I muttered sleepily. The shaking of my shoulder increased.

"Cut it out!" I shouted, swinging my arm into something solid. I opened my eyes and realized that the solid thing I just slapped was someone's face.

"If you knew me better, you would know not to startle me when I'm sleeping." I said. That was the best apology I could come up with. I wasn't very good with that kind of thing.

I sat up and looked around and saw a gigantic wall of gold. At least that's what it looked like. In front of this wall was one single chair raised up on a platform. Along the staircase down from the high platform was a there were almost a hundred people on their knees. There was a narrow path they left open for someone to walk up the steps.

These people were not normal though. Every single one of them was wearing green headbands and green clothes. Their clothes were simple. For the boys, they had cloth shorts and brown sandals. Most of them had dirt smeared on their arms or legs. The girls wore dresses that came down to the knees that also looked very thin and worn. They were slightly cleaner, but I could tell they worked all day too.

Some of the men closer to the platform had feathers sticking out of the green headbands. They were also less dirty and looked either older or stronger. I could tell they were kind of like leaders or something.

At the top, there was one man with a whole headband full of feathers. He stood to the left of the throne. I noticed he was sort of beautiful. His skin was a nice bronze colour, his muscles were very big. He wore different clothes from the rest. He had on a green tunic with gold trim. He had a belt with a diamond embedded in it and capris, not shorts. He wasn't dirty like the rest.

I realized then I was standing there gawking at everyone like a moron. I also noticed a small man had been trying to give me food for the last few minutes. I took the delicious looking fruit without a second thought.

After I ate, a drum beat came out through the crowd. The huge crowd stared at me like they were expecting me to do something. A very old woman approached me and placed a gorgeous green dress in my hands. She kissed the ground at my feet and backed away.

A little boy walked up and thrust a pair of sandals in my arms. He also kissed the ground before leaving. People continued this odd tradition and before I knew it, my arms were piled high with gifts from the village. One woman pointed at the tunic in my arms. I finally got it. They wanted me to wear all this stuff. Under everyone's watchful eye, I swapped outfits.

I felt different in this outfit. I felt like royalty. **(Outfit link on profile)**

The guy at the top, obviously the leader, raised his arms and everyone went quiet. Honestly, I could drop a pin and you could hear it land.

The woman standing beside me who gave me the tunic gave me a little push to start up the stairs. Ugh, did there have to be so many stairs? I hate exercise.

I climbed the long staircase to meet the king at the top. As I passed the people on either side of me, they dropped to their knees. Finally, at the top, I stopped and stood in front of the leader/king/royalty or whatever.

"J'tan Pajo Soco! Alto Pajetan pal pal!" The king shouted to everyone. The crowd erupted at his words. I just stood there feeling like an idiot. Have you ever walked onto a stage and didn't know your lines? That's kind of like the feeling I had right now.

"Err; I'm not exactly sure what you want from me, but thanks for the clothes dude." I stammered out once the village was quiet. The prince/king/leader guy walked up to me and pulled me by the hand to the throne. He sat me down in it. The drum beat quickened and I saw a feathery headband in the leader's hands. He placed it on my head and once more the crowd erupted in cheers.

A feast broke out between everyone and before I knew it, I was being hand fed grapes and other weird fruit I never heard of. I tasted something like grapefruit; except it was sweeter than anything I ever tasted before.

We ate late into the evening and when it got dark, bonfires were lit. And guess what? More food was cooked over the fireplaces. I was so full, but they never stopped cramming food in my mouth.

When I refused to eat anymore food, they brought out a large object that looked like a mini cloud. Once I looked closer, I saw that it was actually a basket full of large swan feathers. Without warning, two strong men picked me up and tossed me lightly into the bed of feathers. I fell asleep before I even hit the bottom.

**Justin's POV**

I was super annoyed with Alex for not talking to me. I did a spell to get into her dreams to find her, to protect her from the weird people that kidnapped her. I wanted to scream in frustration. No matter how far I walked, I couldn't find anything that wasn't jungle, jungle and more jungle.

Just as I was planning to give up walking, (my legs now felt like JELLO) I saw smoke in the distance. A bonfire was lit! Alex must be trying to find me too, only she was smart enough to send up smoke signals!

How wrong was I. I came through the edge of the bushes to an open field. I saw at least a hundred freaky people surrounding Alex. How will I ever save her? I thought. _Aka jow-hiski! _A tall man yelled and pointed directly at me. Something sharp hit me in the leg and I collapsed. My eyes blurred and I felt the ground rush up and hit me in the face.

**Yes, I decided to turn this into a story because so many people added this to their favourites/alerts. And I thank-you for that, (plus reviewing)**

**I don't think I will write anymore of this story until ****Mind Over Matter**** is finished. But don't fret, I plan on finishing my other story in the next week or so. Thanks people!**


	3. A Long Walk Under A Hot Sun

**A/N – Some words in this story, like Indian, native, or anything similar, might seem a little offensive to some viewers. I apologize for that and I assure you that I don't mean any offense. Thanks.**

**Justin's POV**

I sat up groggily and blinked the sleep out of my eyes. I stretched my stiff muscles and silently complained about how hard my bed was. I glanced around to see just where my bed was and realized I was lying on the floor of a rocky cave entrance. And I was not alone. The weird Indian people were gathering around and I felt excitement in the room's atmosphere.

Why are all the native people so excited?

Before I could so much as stand up, the Indians swarmed around me and tied my wrists together. A short, old looking woman bent down and tied my ankles together as well. A drum sounded in the distance and a long rigid wooden stick was brought into the cave.

The two strongest looking men approached it and each grabbed one end. Another strong guy threw me off my feet by lifting my ankles into the air. They tied my feet to the wooden pole and then my hands. _Oh great, _I thought, _I walk all night, and then what? I get CARRIED? _

I pulled my wand out of my back pocket, (with some difficulty since I'm upside down) and pointed it to the chief's face. He laughed and pulled it from my hand. I watched in horror as he broke my wand clean in half.

"What'd you do that for?" I shouted angrily at him. That thing cost me more than thirty wizard coins!

After my loud outburst, a lady came and stuffed some old rags in my mouth. They carried me away and I hung there by my wrists and ankles in defeat.

**Alex's POV**

I was really starting to enjoy this little unexpected vacation. I had no clue where Justin ran off to, but I was content where I was. These beautiful people in face paint were constantly bringing me the best of the best food. I sat on a large pile of white swan feathers in the sweltering heat. Every time I got hot enough for the Indians to notice, two little boys in shorts ran out with a leaf and fanned cool air across my feather bed.

"This was the life." I thought as I leaned back into the soft bed. I looked to my right and saw the tall leader sitting in a pile of black feathers, similar to mine. He smiled when I looked over. I was really starting to like him, once I found out who he was.

His name is Okhmhaka, which means "little wolf". I found this out by the pictures that he showed me. Although the name suits him perfectly, I prefer to call him Oakley. It's almost the same and much easier to pronounce. Every time I say his name, the people around me laugh at my nickname. He still insists on calling me Aquila, for some unknown reason. I couldn't ask him because he didn't speak English, no one here did.

In the far distance I heard Indian voices of men. It sounded like they were arguing over something. Oakley rushed over to me and put his hand over my eyes. The men's voices grew closer until it sounded like they were not ten feet in front of us. I heard a muffled noise, like someone was had their hand over their mouth and was trying to speak. The footsteps faded until everything was quiet again. Oakley removed his hand from my face and I understood that whatever just walked by I wouldn't have wanted to see.

I really loved Oakley for protecting me from every little thing that has happened so far. He ordered the leaf-fanners to come by when it got hot out, he told the people what food I liked best, he told the Indians to bring white feathers, rather than black (I don't know why). So far, he's my favourite.

Other than the one occurrence with Oakley covering my eyes, the rest of the day was laid back and lazy. I spent the whole day relaxing in the sun. When the sun had set, the men built a canopy over our two feather beds and I fell asleep next to a bonfire to keep warm. The last thing I mumbled before crashing was "I hope Justin's alright, wherever he is."

**Justin's POV**

I was carried and carried through what felt like the hottest day I've ever experienced. I was drenched in sweat and sunburns, but they people carried me further and further tied on the stick. My wrists and ankles had big blisters on them from rubbing against the wooden pole.

We stopped walking suddenly and I looked up. Alex was sitting right in front of me! I tried to call out to her through the rags stuffed in my mouth, but as soon as I tried that, a guy tapped me with his walking stick. I struggled against the tough ropes I was tied with, but it was all in vain. The guys that tied these ropes must have been experts.

I looked behind me and saw a young man sitting beside Alex. He had one hand resting on her shoulder and the other covering her eyes from seeing me. She was smiling and leaning towards him; he sat really close to her on a soft feather bed. _What is she doing? _I yelled silently. Then a thought struck me. That was the same look on her face as when she first saw Mason! (And Dean, and George, and Riley) Typical Alex! Everywhere she goes, she has handsome young guys following her.

The men carried me far away from my sister and _that guy over there. _They walked and walked until the blazing sun went down. (Again) They dropped me on a stone floor and threw a few leaves at me to sleep on.

_Just Great, _I thought.

I sat awake, staring at the moon, wondering how Alex was doing. By the brief glance I saw earlier, it looked like she was in much better condition than I was at the moment. Right now I envied her. She still had her wand; she was probably warmer, more comfortable, and well fed. The only thing I ate all day was some bread they stuffed in my mouth while I hung upside down. (This by the way is not the best way to eat.)

I couldn't see anything more than a couple feet away from me because it was so dark here. All I saw was the same brown rock surrounding me. It was very cold where I was. I didn't see anyone near me, but I could sense their presence not far away. Someone placed a bucket of water next to me and I scrubbed my face clean. I rinsed my aching wrists and ankles in the freezing water. I curled up in a little ball and fell asleep on the hard rock ground extremely cold.


	4. A Wizard's Reunion

**Chapter 4 – A Wizard's Reunion**

Once again, I wake up uncomfortable. Well, this is a bit of an understatement. Right now, I am being carried through the bushes, tied by my ankles upside down. My arms are dangling uselessly above my head, since I am too tired to do anything with them. My wrists are still raw from the ropes yesterday, and my ankles are even worse because they still aren't loose.

When the people that are carrying me realize I have woken up, they pour a bucket of water over my head. They also stuff old bread in my mouth and expect me to eat hanging upside down. I spit it out, not even trying to eat. (Even though I am starving.)

After a short period of walking, the Indians drop the stick I'm tied to. (No, don't just set the pole on the ground, but drop it so I hit the ground and then the pole lands on my head after.) I look up rubbing the new bruise on my head and see a large circular area with a throne in the middle.

I gasp wildly when I realize just who is sitting on that throne. "ALEX!" I exclaim.

"Justin, is that you?" She asks confused. The leader-Indian-guy sitting next to Alex leans over and whispers something to her. I frown up at her.

"Justin you look horrible." Alex laughs at me. She has a point though. I've been sleeping on the ground for a few days now, I haven't washed or showered since we got to this place, I'm bruised and battered, and I haven't eaten in more than 48 hours.

Alex on the other hand, looked well fed, clean, comfortable, and basically just _glowing. _She looked super happy sitting next to the hot native dude.

"Alex, please, we've got to get back home." I pleaded with her.

She surprised me by saying, "Why would I want to go home? I've got everything I ever wanted right here."

"But what about mom and dad? How about Max? What about being a wizard? I bet you haven't tried any magic since we got here!" I yelled back at her.

"I don't need magic when I already have everything I need." She retorted. Oops, that was a mistake. Don't get queen-of-getting-everything-she-wants mad. She motioned to a big guy beside her and he picked me up and carried me over to a wheel propped up outside Alex's circle.

This wheel was massive. It had some strange symbols roughly cut into it. It was probably about seven feet tall and perfectly circular. It was wooden and had four pieces of rope tied to the four corners. Oh, and did I mention that it could spin, well, fast?

The strong man tied me to this torturous device. I ended up lying spread eagle to the wheel as they slowly started spinning it.

"Alex, please, make them stop! You know I'm not good with this type of thing! I'll get sick!" She just laughed at my panicked voice and her eyes got huge as she watched me spinning out of control.

I spun and spun, faster and faster, until the strong guy jerked it to a stop. I got whiplash from the sudden non-spinning. They untied me and I fell to the ground from being so dizzy.

"What kind of game is this Alex?" I spat. I was furious that my own sister could do this to me. At first, I thought Alex was going to finally do something nice to me, but I was wrong. She told the strong guy to do something I couldn't understand, and then they tied me by my knees to a hard wooden chair.

"What is it with you people and tying people up? It's not like I could escape anyways!" I screamed at them. When I opened my mouth to yell more insults at them they stuffed a piece of fruit in my face. The delicious juices shut me up instantly. I was so hungry that I didn't care that I didn't even know what I was eating.

They continued to stuff food in my mouth faster than I could chew it, until I couldn't eat any more. Alex told the guy to stop shoving food at me and everyone stood still.

Alex's throne was moved to the edge of her circle and a bonfire was started in the middle. And guess what? We ate MORE food. I was still tied to a chair, but the attention shifted from me to the huge fire. A drum beat started and Alex surprised me again by getting up and dancing around the fire. A few other young girls got up and joined her.

This seemed like some type of ritual. The drum beats increased in tempo until Alex's dance got so fast they were almost blurry. I watched in shock from my chair as everyone started dancing. The young, the old, the men, the women, everyone. Some torches were set up around the circle as the dance continued throughout the night.

The drumming got faster and faster still, until it was just a continuous noise. I saw Alex stand up tall in the centre, (or as close as she could get to the centre since the fire was the actual middle) and she shouted something to the crowd. Everyone cheered and she walked over to the biggest drum. She struck it once, twice, three times. On the fourth drum beat, everyone fell silent.

The cheerful faces of the crowd slowly turned into horror. Every fell to the ground in slow motion. Alex jumped up and sprinted over to me and started untying me.

"What's going on?" I yelled to her.

"Shh, you have to be quiet. The spell I put on them only lasts for a few minutes. We have to get out of here." She whispered. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"What are you talking about? I thought you liked them!" I blurted. Alex finished untying me and started half pulling half running with me away from the campsite. She yanked me to a stop just inside the bushes.

"Listen. I put a spell on that drum so that the first wizard that hit it four times would make every mortal fall unconscious. My magic isn't very strong so it won't last long."

"But then why did you say that you never wanted to leave? I thought you loved that Indian guy."

"LISTEN! I tricked them. What part of that don't you get? Sure that guy was hot, but isn't family more important? Sure, they treated me well, but when I found out what they were doing to you I knew they weren't good. Justin, they planned to sacrifice you at the end of that bonfire." She whispered quickly.

"WHAT! They were going to kill me? Oh thank you Alex, I knew you weren't evil."

"Pssht that little wheel thing was pretty funny though, I have to admit. What a great idea." She laughed back.

"That was your idea?" I yelled angrily.

"Oh calm down, you know I love playing harmless practical jokes on you. Plus if they thought I was torturing you, then they would trust me more to be in charge of them." She said matter-of-factly.

"Well, how do we get out of here?" I asked.

"Simple, we're wizards, duh." She smirked.

"Wrong. The Indians broke my wand when I tried to use it."

"Oh no! We can't go home! This place that we're in, it's not the same as where we're from. We can't get home unless we have a full wizard, right?"

"You did your homework!"

"Yeah well, I only read the stuff that will actually help, not useless stuff that you memorize like that ripening fruit spell." I was about to open my mouth for a comeback but Alex put her hand over my mouth.

"Enough, we have to get far away from this place so they don't wake up when we're still here." She whispered.

"Let's go." I mumbled. We stumbled through the thick bush at a quick pace. After a few minutes of going as fast as we could, we heard a horn sound in the distance.

"Oh no! They woke up. They know that we ran away." Alex worried.

"Just keep going." I urged her forward. We kept at our quickest pace for long, suspenseful minutes. After a long time, I collapsed. I couldn't walk any further. My feet were already aching when we started, let alone after all the running we did. Alex put up a spell around us that should keep away the Indians, at least for awhile anyways.

_Justin's feet are hurting so, please heal him so he can fully grow! _Alex recited. Suddenly, I was feeling much better now that I didn't hurt anymore. Alex looked exhausted from all the magic and running she just did, and I was bushed too. We fell asleep on a pile of leaves while I complained for this being the third night in a row I slept on the ground.

"At least you're not being sacrificed by the weird people still." Alex shot back sleepily.

"Thanks again Alex. For being my sister." I whispered to my already-asleep baby sister.

***The end of chapter 4* How are you guys liking this story so far? Is it too confusing or anything? Thanks for all the reviews and support so far, it really helps! Thanks!**


	5. Down Below

**A/N – I'm sorry I didn't get to posting this earlier, but last week was exam week and I bet most of you know how busy that is...thanks for your patience!**

**Chapter 5- Down Below  
**Justin's POV - Justin and Alex wake up on the jungle floor and sleepily get sup. They will never again sleep on the ground, it's too uncomfortable. They remember the night before and start walking even farther away from the village. They end up at the entrance of a deserted mine. He Justin is very paranoid about going into confined spaces because he's paranoid from all of Alex's pranks. He knows that they are dangerous and that they could cave in, but Alex hears voices of the Indians in the distance. They've been found! They rush into the mine and when they reach a dead end, Alex starts banging on the dirt wall. She starts a cave in. Justin falls down a landslide that the cave in caused and lands somewhere far below. He finds a large gold mine at the bottom. Alex meanwhile, gets caught by the Indians.

"_Alex, please forgive me! I had no choice!" His voice echoed through the woods. I stared around until I saw his tall figure steps out of the trees. Oakley was dressed in creamy-brown pants than looked like the fabric moccasins were made of. His feet were bare, and so was his chest._

"_Listen, I'm not like these others. I despised the thought of trickery and sacrifice. My fellow closed their ears to my words. I didn't choose to be in command, it was my birthright. My family has always been most powerful over all others for as long as our culture has lived." He spoke gently and slowly approached me. I stood frozen, at a loss for words in front of him. Was this a dream?_

"_You speak English?" I blurted out stupidly._

"_My sweet Alex, only to you do I speak your native tongue, since my people would never accept me as their leader if they knew I spoke this language. Everything I say is quite real, although I am saddened to know that this is but a dream." He whispered._

The forest faded into black and I opened my eyes. The sight in front of me shocked me. I was propped up against a tree stump and I was staring at the exact same scenery that my dream had; the same forest, the same trees. The only difference was that Justin was sleeping on a pile of moss and Oakley wasn't present.

I stood up and started pacing around our little meadow. I thought about what Oakley had said in my dream. Did he still like me? Yes. Did he know where we escaped to? No. Would he be on our side if the rest of them found us? Maybe.

Justin sat up and looked over at me. "Good morning, Alex. What's for breakfast?" He said sleepily.

"Uh, the morning's cold and damp and you can eat whatever you find." I grouched at him. I was not a morning person.

"Well, we could pick some berries as we walk." He suggested.

"If only we had our wands." I muttered.

We continued walking through the forest. Soon, every tree and leaf started to look the same. By lunchtime, we were hopelessly lost.

"Which way are we headed again?" I asked for the millionth time.

"Away from the Indians." He said frustrated. We continued marching through these same god-for-saken bushes until I finally yanked my brother to a stop.

"What?" He yelled.

"Stop walking and let's figure out where exactly we are. For all you know we could be getting deeper into the forest instead of out." I retorted.

"Why don't we start there?" Justin pointed to something behind me. I turned around and saw a wooden pillar over the tree tops.

"Fine, if you want to do this the easy way." I muttered. We walked up to the wood pillar and found much more equipment.

"This is a mine." Justin said poking me.

"Okay, let's go." I started forward.

"No! Don't go into it, it might be dangerous! The wood won't be sturdy enough to hold your weight. What if there was a cave in? You'd be trapped forever! You know I'm not good with confined spaces!" Justin rambled on.

"Oh, stop worrying. We're not going to get anywhere if we just stand here." I smirked. I approached the pillar in the ground and found a large hole in the earth. The pillar was in the middle of the big gaping hole and worked as a sort of elevator going down underground. I hopped onto the shelf and tugged on the rope. Slowly, the platform I was on started sinking.

"Wait for me. I don't want you going down there by yourself!" Justin yelled. He ran over and jumped onto the platform. It started sinking faster once Justin's weight was added on.

"I don't like this I don't like this." Justin clutched my arm as our heads sank beneath the surface.

"Stop being such a baby. Look, there are even lanterns down here." I picked up the ancient-looking light and swung it around. The handle broke and it fell onto the cold rock ground and burnt out. We stood in pitch-black.

"Now look what you've done! How are we supposed to get out now?" Justin yelled.

"If you're constant speaking was to cease, the farther you would travel." A familiar voice whispered from close by.

"Who's there?" Justin panicked and started flailing about.

"It is I, Okhmhaka, leader of the Pajetani people and wanderer of the sinking gold wells." Oakley said just as quietly.

"Oakley, is everything you told me true? Are you really not going to harm us?" I said.

"My sweet Alex, I wouldn't think of harming thee." He said taking hold of my forearms.

"I-what'd going on? I can't see anything." Justin said awkwardly.

"Ah, this must be my lady's brother. Justin, I believe." He murmured.

"Yeah, I'm Justin, how come you're here? How did you find us?"

"These tunnels are grand. Your voice rang out to me from a great distance."

"But how did you get in here? And how did you know we were in this tunnel?" Justin said suspiciously.

"Be not unkind, young one. Every tunnel is connected to another. This entrance is one of many dug deep into the rock." Oakley smiled. "Now shall we bring light into these darkened trenches?" Oakley said lighting another torch. This torch looked newer and stronger than the one we found earlier.

"Where shall I lead thee?" Oakley asked.

"Can you take us to the surface? We don't exactly know where to go from there, but it would be nice to get out. I'm getting a little claustrophobic." Justin said.

"To the surface we shall rise, and from thy surface you shall be led home." He declared. Oakley took my hand and we walked at a fast pace. Justin scrambled to keep up.

"It is the end of another day." Oakley said stopping. He pulled us down a narrow path and stopped at the dead end. "Here we will rest, for tomorrow our journey will continue."

The small room was about the width of small tent and the ceiling was just barely high enough for Oakley to stand up straight. The floor was lined with leaves and feathers. It looked like a nest. I curled up and fell asleep in the corner of the room. Justin stretched out diagonally across the short space and Oakley sat up straight in the entrance way. I was out before either of them even closed their eyes.

**A/N – If anyone is wondering why Oakley is talking differently, you can blame that on the Shakespeare unit we just had in English class. I hope no one minds, but I thought it gave him more character. Let me know if you guys like where the story's going. Thanks!**


	6. Farewell, My Love

**Chapter 6 – Farewell, My Love**

**Alex's POV**

I woke up last. I could tell by Justin and Oakley's quiet voices talking on either side of me. I lay awake, but didn't open my eyes. I breathed slowly so that the two boys wouldn't know I was awake yet. I listened hard to hear what they were saying.

"Oakley, I'm sorry I wasn't very nice to you yesterday. I guess I didn't trust you because I thought you were like the rest of your people." Justin whispered.

"Thank you, but my people aren't as viscous and vile as thou think. They seem that way to you, for you are much different." Oakley said.

"Yeah, I'm different..." Justin said sarcastically.

"Stay silent, for Alex might have awoken." Oakley whispered suddenly. I blinked and opened my eyes slowly.

"Good morning." Justin and Oakley said together.

"We should get moving. These tunnels aren't safe for wanderers like you." Oakley said getting up.

"What, no breakfast?" I complained.

"There's no food in a mine, Alex." Justin said. "Obviously."

"Oh fine whatever, let's go then." I grumbled.

We walked for quite awhile until we reached a dead end. At the end of the tunnel was a large room that looked like it had yellow wall paper.

"You led us to a dead end? I knew this was a bad idea! He tricked us. Come one Alex, let's get out of here." Justin grabbed my arm.

"Hold it." I said. I pointed up and we saw a long tunnel going straight up, and hopefully, out.

"And how are we supposed to get up there, fly?" Justin smirked.

"Thou art in the presence of the sparkling den. We bring only guests to this place of magic." Oakley whispered. "Thy hole atop your head is not an exit. This is a place for stargazing. For when the stars are at their brightest, the light gathers at the centre of the woods."

"We're in the exact middle of the woods? I thought you were bringing us out, not farther in!" Justin exclaimed.

"The only way of exit is to centre." Oakley frowned. "Is that not your intention?"

"Justin, stop being so rude! He's trying to help!" I smacked his arm lightly.

"Okay, sorry. What is this place exactly?"

"As I said, we stand at the sparkling den, the one true place of magic. If there was ever a truer place to behold, it shall be here. Awaken, thy magic held, and stand before thy heaven's eye!" He raised his arms.

The stars above us grew bright and light spread through the room. I gawked at the walls when I realized that the "yellow wall paper" was actually a wall of gold, pure gold.

We were blinded by the light glittering off the shining jewels imbedded in the walls. The very centre of the room glowed brightest.

"Your home awaits you through these bright shining gates. I shall release you and bid you farewell." Oakley said taking my hand.

Justin looked back and forth between us and said, "Come one Alex, this is our one chance of getting out."

"Oakley, come with us. You would love it where we're from. No one gets hurt; there is more shelter and kinder people. I don't want to leave you." I said.

"Lovely Alex, I belong with my people, where I was born. You must go now and be with your family. I must return to my people. I wish not to part with you, but it is not my life you walk into, it is yours. Farewell my love." Oakley said before pressing his lips against mine. He kissed me quickly, but sweetly. Once we broke apart, he stepped outside the glittering room.

"Farewell, my love." He repeated. "Goodbye." I choked out. I was just starting to like him too...

"Come on, Alex, I hear people coming." He said anxiously. I heard them too. Loud footsteps were echoing down the long tunnel, getting closer and closer.

"Go now, friends, before the stars fade away!" Oakley shouted from where he stood.

Justin grabbed my hand and together we stepped into the bright circle. The light swirled around us and we couldn't see anything but pure light and energy. I squeezed my eyes shut and clutched Justin's arm tightly as the magic filled us.

!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i

I opened my eyes when the light faded. I glanced around and figured out we were standing in the middle of the sub shop. I was wearing the green dress, which was the gift from the Indian people, and Justin was still covered in bruises and scratches. We were both really muddy and extremely tired. Our dad walked out of the kitchen and caught a glimpse of us.

"What's going on here? What happened?" He gasped. Only then did I realize that I was still squeezing the daylight out of Justin's arm and he still had his arms around me.

I jumped away from him and ran up the stairs. "I'm taking a shower!" I called down as I ran.

"Justin, tell me what happened." I heard my dad ask Justin, who was still standing downstairs. I skidded to a halt and waited to hear what Justin would say.

"I honestly don't think you would believe me if I told you." Justin said loudly. He knew I was listening.

"So? Tell me anyways." My father challenged.

"Let's put it this way. Alex found yet another guy, I almost got sacrificed, I slept on the ground for three days, I broke my wand, and Alex lost her wand." Justin said very quickly. Before our dad could figure out what he said, Justin bolted upstairs and grabbed my arm and we escaped into Justin's room with the locked the door. Seconds later we heard..."ALEX WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME?"

"Why does he always blame me?" I asked.

"Face it Alex, with you, don't assume anything." He said with a smile.

"I'm just happy we're home." I whispered.

"Me too, Alex. Me too." Justin said pulling me into a hug.


End file.
